Mind Soup

Map of the Bermuda Triangle SALEM NEWS : Oceanographic surveyors of the sea floor in the area of the Bermuda Triangle and the North Sea region between continental Europe and Great Britain have discovered significant quantities of methane hydrates and older eruption sites. According to two research scientists the mystery of vanished ships and airplanes in the region dubbed "The Bermuda Triangle" has been solved. Step aside outer space aliens, time anomalies, submerged giant Atlantean pyramids and bizarre meteorological phenomena ... the "Triangle" simply suffers from an acute case of gas. Natural gas—the kind that heats ovens and boils water—specifically methane, is the culprit behind the mysterious disappearances and loss of water and air craft. The evidence for this astounding new insight into a mystery that's bedeviled the world is laid out in a research paper published in the American Journal of Physics. Professor Joseph Monaghan researched the h...

Ethiopian women, relatives of passengers of the Ethiopian Airlines plane that crashed in the sea, react upon their arrival at Beirut airport, Lebanon. Lebanese Red Cross workers move a body retrieved from the Mediterranean Sea. Pieces of the plane and debris were washing ashore in the hours after the crash, including passenger seats, a fire extinguisher and bottles of medicine. Lebanese soldiers gather debris from the crash on the shore near Beirut airport. Families of the passengers, some of them weeping uncontrollably rushed to the Rafic Hariri International Airport in Beirut to await news of their loved ones. The Boeing 737-800 disappeared off the radar some five minutes after taking off from Beirut's Rafik Hariri International Airport. Chopper carrying corpses from the crash site to UNIFIL ships. Prime Minister Hariri consoling victims' families and friends after news of the plane crash.

Translation: Lebanon in national mourning after plane crash carrying 90 passengers, of which 54 are Lebanese. (see article below for English) بيروت - ا ف ب - سقطت فجر الاثنين طائرة تابعة للخطوط الجوية الاثيوبية بعد دقائق من اقلاعها من مطار رفيق الحريري الدولي في بيروت وعلى متنها 90 راكبا وبدات على الفور اعمال البحث عن ناجين وسط احوال جوية سيئة للغاية كما اعلن وزير الاشغال اللبناني غازي العريضي. واوضح العريضي للصحافيين اثر اجتماع عقده مع المسؤولين في المطار ان "العمل بدأ للبحث عن ناجين وذلك بمساعدة  بحرية وطوافات الجيش اللبناني وقوات الطوارىء الدولية (اليونفيل) البحرية واجهزة الصليب الاحمر الدولي". وقال "حتى الان ليس ثمة نتائج ملموسة" موضحا ان الطائرة هوت "غربي بلدة الناعمة (12 كلم جنوب المطار) على بعد 3.5 كلم من الشاطىء". وقال "الطائرة تقل 90 شخصا: 83 راكبا وطاقمها المؤلف من سبعة اشخاص" ومن بين الركاب 54 لبنانيا. وفند العريضي جنسيات الركاب وقال انهم "54 لبنانيا, 22 اثيوبيا, عراقي واحد, سوري واحد, كندي واحد من اصل لبناني, روسية واحد...

The grim task of searching the turbulent seas off the coast of Lebanon goes on following the crash of the Ethopian airline. As the hours have ticked around 20 bodies have so far been recovered. Relatives watch on. With their pain there is anger that the jet was allowed to take off during a thunder storm. The airline’s chief executive has confirmed there is no word of any survivors. 83 passengers and seven crew were on board the Boeing 737-800. Among them was the wife of the French ambassador to the Lebanon. The Lebanaes President has said an act of sabotage is unlikely. One eye witness described the inferno as the plane burst into flames. “At about 2.30 there was big ball of fire it was as big as a tent. I watched it fall into the sea between these two buildings, it landed in the sea perhaps about one kilometre from here,” he said. Throughout the morning people have been gathering at the hospital clinging to hope and desperate for any news. Lebanon’s Prime Minister Saad H...

From the king of pop to the queen of reality TV, from swine flu to MPs' expenses, these are among the year's most-read stories. There are goodbyes and near-misses, extremes in the weather, and a few light-hearted moments alongside more serious tales. JANUARY Two near misses and a certain Time Lord grabbed the headlines in January. It was new year, new Doctor, as  Matt Smith was named  as the actor to take over from David Tennant in Doctor Who. At 27, he will be the youngest to take on the role when he appears on TV in 2010. A pilot ditched an Airbus A320 in the Hudson River after a double bird strike Attention turned to Manchester United winger Cristiano Ronaldo, who  wrote off his Ferrari  in a crash near Manchester Airport but walked away unscathed. Another lucky escape attracted plenty of attention when  a pilot crash-landed an airliner  in New York's Hudson River after birds disabled its engines. All 155 passengers and crew were rescued....